You're Not Supposed to Leave Me
by RunBabyRun8312
Summary: All it took was a second and suddenly Jemma knew what Fitz had felt like when he thought he had lost her. "You can't do something like this ever again, okay? I broke a man's nose yesterday. Yeah, me! I did that because you weren't there to stop me from making bad choices. Don't ever leave me or scare me like this again. I need you. I need you, Fitz."


There was a brief moment, five or six seconds perhaps, of peace when Jemma awoke. But then she realized she was curled up next to Skye and remembered why.

It was a mission and a plain one. Capture the bad guy and get some weapon or something he had. Jemma couldn't even recall the details anymore. It would forever be in her memory as the day she finally understood the pain Fitz went through when she was sick, the feeling of having part of her heart ripped out.

He had gone to the target's hotel room to set up a device that would find the object they were looking for while she did the same in another area. Within a few minutes, Ward was on comms saying he had gotten the guy and the object. Jemma excitedly put her equipment away and pulled her comms piece out of her ear, ready to congratulate the team. As she headed down the hall towards the room, she picked up on a commotion and quickened her pace a little.

"Guys?" she asked, reaching the doorway.

There was the sound of quick movement and hushed voices. Skye appeared before her, blocking her from entering the room.

"What's going on?" Jemma asked.

Skye was trying to maintain a casual face, but Simmons read right through it. Something was wrong.

"Skye, what i-" Then it hit her and her voice dropped. "Fitz?"

Her fears were confirmed when Skye's eyes clouded over with tears and she opened her mouth, straining for words. Jemma pushed past her, running to the frantic sounds coming from inside. Coulson looked up at her in alarm and then pity. He, May, and Ward were surrounding Fitz. Her Fitz that was limp on the floor, bleeding out onto the carpet.

Skye came up beside her and tried to put an arm around her, but Simmons slipped through it as she fell to the ground. Ward was directing an emergency chopper to their location. Coulson and May were trying to stop the bleeding from Fitz's chest, but it oozed through May's fingers, spreading across the jumper Fitz had on. The one his mother had bought him for Christmas years ago that he hated, but Jemma made him wear from time to time.  
As Skye kneeled next to her, she swore she heard a faint begging of his name in every sob. But Simmons didn't speak until she heard the sound.

The deep, guttural laughter from the corner pulled Jemma from her fixation on Fitz. Their prisoner sat restrained in the corner, where he had been discarded when the team came upon the horrific scene. She let out a scream so loud and unexpected even May jumped a little and shoved Skye aside, stumbling over to the grinning man.

"Simmons!" Ward called out, hurrying to pull her away.

He and Skye tore her off of the man, but not without a fight. Simmons pummeled him and grabbed onto his clothes or hair when her teammates tried to separate them. A smug grin remained on his face, not bothered by the blows that were nothing to him.

"Simmons, let go!" Ward yelled, starting to tug more roughly at her.

"NO!"

Skye was a mess by this point, too. Tears streamed down her face as she herself took several hits from Simmons while trying to help Ward. The smile on the prisoner's face vanished when a _crunch_ erupted from his nose.

Ward grabbed her shoulders. "Simmons! SIMMONS!"

He slapped his hand across her face in a quick swipe. Skye looked at him, eyes wide, but it had worked. Jemma collapsed against him, sobbing into his shirt and staining him with her bloody hands.

The medical unit arrived just after that. They loaded up Fitz, barking out orders to each other, and began to wheel him out. Jemma tried to get up and follow them, but stumbled over her punching bag and fell back into Ward and Skye.

"I need to -," she said, "Fitz. I need to go with him."

"They're going to take care of him," said May, approaching them.

Another medic got the prisoner and dragged him off to fix his nose. Simmons' legs were in Ward's lap and the rest of her was being cradled by Skye. May brought over a towel and Jemma wiped the blood off of her hands. In a moment, Coulson joined them. He had been on the phone with Hill explaining what happened.

He crouched down. "Jemma, he's strong. He's going to be fine."

"What if he's not?" she sobbed in reply.

"Come on."

Coulson rose and reached out a hand. Jemma shakily took it and allowed him to help her up. He pulled her against him and stroked her hair. Over his shoulder, she could see the blood-soaked carpet and her legs went out.

They returned to the bus solemnly. Ward had carried Simmons, her body shaking in his arms. May got them to the SHIELD medical center in record time. By then, Jemma was okay to walk on her own. In fact, she practically bolted the moment the hatch opened for them to exit.  
Ward was afraid for a moment that he may have to pull Simmons off of yet another person. The way she looked at the nurse upon being told she couldn't see Fitz sent a chill down his spine. But Skye intercepted and took a hold of Simmons' hand.

"Let's go sit down. They'll let us know when we can see him."

Jemma let herself be pulled away to a waiting room. She sat with a distant look, her hand still clasped in Skye's. Ward paced back in forth in his shirt still streaked with blood. Coulson stood with his arms folded in the corner. May perched on an end table and gave a piercing look to any nurse who looked like they were going to tell her to move.

The hours came and went. May and Coulson each went several times to get information, but all they ever got was that they were still working on him. When it got late, Coulson managed to shepherd everyone back to the bus, battling against a stubborn and exhausted Simmons who wanted to stay and wait for Fitz. May made Simmons a cup of tea that she took, but declined the offer of food. Skye coaxed her into a hot shower and then some pajamas. She combed Simmons' wet hair and ended up falling asleep next to her. None of the others told Skye to go to her own bunk. They just laid a blanket over the girls and turned out the light.

Skye awoke a couple hours later, brought to by Simmons' voice.

"No, Leo," she whimpered in her sleep.

Skye swallowed down the urge to cry. She had never heard Simmons call Fitz by his first name and it felt wrong to hear it now. It seemed like an intimate, rare thing that only the two of them were supposed to hear, not her. She put her arm around Simmons and scooted closer, then soothed her friend back into a restful sleep.

* * *

Jemma waited silent and still until Skye woke up. Coulson had walked by once and poked his head in so she had pretended to still be asleep. Once Skye was up, the group went back into the hospital. This time, they were given a room number. Jemma walked several steps ahead of the others, wringing her hands together nervously. Finally, she found the room and darted inside. When the others got in, she was grasping his hand into both of hers and holding it to her chest, her eyes brimming with tears.

His heart monitor beat steadily beside him. Not perfectly, but steadily. The edge of a square of gauze stuck out of the top of his gown, marking where the doctors had spent all night working on him. He was pastier than usual and out cold still.

"Oh, Fitz," she whispered and that was when the tears began to fall again.

Skye started to move toward her, but May stopped her. They and the men stepped out quietly, leaving the finally reunited Fitzsimmons to themselves.

"You can't do something like this ever again, okay? I broke a man's nose yesterday. Yeah, me! I did that because you weren't there to stop me from making bad choices. Don't ever leave me or scare me like this again. I need you. I need you, Fitz."

* * *

It wasn't until the next morning that Jemma finally felt herself breathe again. He moved.

"Fitz?" she asked, moving to the edge of her chair.

It took him a few minutes to fully wake up. Jemma perked up more with every twitch and groan. She squeezed his hand.

"Come on, Fitz."

He cracked one eye open. Jemma moved to sit on the edge of his bed. She stroked his forehead, pushing back his hair. Fitz tried to speak, but found himself unable.

"Water?" Jemma asked.

He nodded.

She poured a glass with hands that were now steadied. After helping him drink some, she sat back down beside him, the hospital bed creaking underneath her. Fitz had had his eyes fully open for a moment, but the harsh lighting forced him to shut them again.

"How do you feel?"

"Like I got shot in the chest," Fitz answered gruffly.

Jemma sighed, but it came out slightly strangled at the end. Fitz looked at her and stretched his fingers out to hers.

"It was a joke. Come on, don't cry."

"I'm sorry. It's just... I was so scared, Fitz. There-there was just..."

Fitz tried to push himself up, wincing as he did so. She raised the bed position and helped him get situated again.

"Does it hurt?" Jemma asked, noticing he was poking at his bandages.

"Yeah."

She reached over to the IV bag beside the bed. "I'll up your morphine a little."

Fitz grabbed her arm. "No, no, I'm fine for now. How long has it been?"

"Almost two days."

"Did you guys get him? The one who-?"

"Yes," she answered abruptly.

Fitz nodded and leaned back against the pillows. His curls were limp and flat, but he seemed to have gotten his normal skin tone back. Jemma watched his chest move as he breathed. Her mind flashed back to the scene she would desperately try to forget for the rest of her life. She couldn't fight the sob that made its way up her throat.

"Jem-"

She threw her arms around his neck and cried on him. Fitz lifted his arm to her back, ignoring the pain from his wound.

"Oi, if you're gonna hug me like this, I am going to need some more juice."

Jemma choked out a short laugh, the first in two days, and turned up his morphine a little. She settled herself down right beside him and rested her head on his shoulder. Fitz slid his arm around her, holding her as much as he could without hurting.

"By the way, if I had died in that hideous jumper, I would have haunted you for all eternity."

"Shut up."

* * *

The rest of the team came by a little later, surprised to find Fitz awake. Jemma blushed in embarrassment that she had completely forgotten to let them know. When a nurse tried to scold her for giving him more drugs, she irritably informed the woman that _she_ was a doctor.

"No need to be so harsh, Simmons," Fitz said when the nurse had left.

"If you think that's bad, you should see the dude that shot you," said Skye, "Simmons. Messed. Him. Up."

"What?!"

Jemma stammered. "I-I may have broken his nose. A little."

"You just turn into a hurricane of violence when I'm not around, don't you?" Fitz laughed.

"That's why you're not supposed to leave me."

They looked at each other, they faces only mere inches apart. Skye opened her mouth to _aww_, but Ward jabbed her with his elbow.

_You ship it_, she mouthed.


End file.
